Educated, Multilingual Population
Malaysians are educated, with a large pool of people with technical and managerial skills. In addition, Malaysia has a low wage inflation (5.5%) and attrition rate (5%) compared to many other top Asian countries.
Education
Literacy levels in Malaysia is at 94%. School leavers entering the job market have at least 11 years of basic education. Labour productivity has grown steadily at more than 3.3% per annum over the last few years, surpassing that of many developed countries.
The country has more than 500 institutes of higher learning, i.e, universities and colleges, out of which 18 are public institutions and the rest are private institutions (including polytechnics and industrial training institutes). A total of 70 colleges have also been established to produce technical manpower. There are also Smart School programmes for the primary and secondary levels that are specifically designed to meet the increasing demand for knowledge workers.
The total enrolment in public universities and colleges is projected to reach over 325,600, with more than half in science and technical disciplines.
It is anticipated that Malaysia will produce more than 100,000 graduates, majority of them in research, engineering and IT. The supply of researchers and engineers is expected to increase five-fold by year 2010.
Many Malaysians also study overseas - with the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Japan being the most popular destinations. These graduates, armed with undergraduate and post-graduate qualifications, are globalised in their skills and outlook. At least 50,000 colleage students study overseas each year, and many of them return to Malaysia after they graduate. Some may stay on for 2-3 years to work overseas before they return to Malaysia, bringing home with them additional international work experience. There are close to a million foreign-educated Malaysians in the workforce today.
Collaboration between Government and the Private Sector
Education is accorded as high priority in the national development agenda. About 15% of total public development expenditure is allocated for this purpose under Malaysia's five-year development plans.
To further develop a workforce that meets market demands, the Malaysian Government, MDeC, and the private sector are continuously working together in developing skill training programmes to prepare fresh graduates for the job market.
In 1993, the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) was launched by the Government to encourage training, retraining and skills-upgrading in the private sector. Companies which contribute to this fund are eligible to apply for grants to defray or subsidise costs incurred in training their workers.
The National Vocational Training Council under the Ministry of Human Resources also develops the National Occupational Skills Standards (NOSS) on a continuous basis. To date, there are more than 580 NOSS covering basic, intermediate and advanced training levels.
On top of that, the Malaysian government, private enterprises and foreign governments have also established several advanced-skills training institutes such as the German-Malaysian Institute, Malaysia France Institute, Japan Malaysia Technical Institute, British Malaysia Institute and Malaysian Spanish Institute.
Multilingual and Youthful Workforce
Malaysia has a multicultural and multireligious population of 26 million, the result of a colourful history. Three main races - Malay, Chinese and Indian - make up the largest segments of the population. Because of its multicultural mix, most Malaysians are multilingual, and most speak at least two languages. Bahasa Malaysia is the national language (which similar to Bahasa Indonesia), and English is the widely-used second and business language. In addition, many speak their 'mother tongues' such as the various Chinese languages, or Tamil, a southern Indian language.
Malaysia also has a youthful workforce with 70% of them below the age of 35. The majority of the Malaysian workforce has strong industry knowledge (ie, finance, logistics, utilities, manufacturing, telcos). This workforce is familiar with using technology in their work such as productivity tools and business applications such as CRM and ERP.
The Malaysian workforce is a loyal bunch. The country has the lowest attrition rate at 5%, the lowest compared to other developing countries in Asia Pacific.
Today, there are more than 40,000 skilled jobs created by MSC Malaysia-status companies, with 17,000 jobs in the Shared Services and Outsourcing (SSO) sector. More than 95% of those employed by MSC Malaysia-status companies are Malaysians.
Industrial relations in Malaysia is harmonious. Trade disputes which result in strikes are very unusual in the country. Malaysia's labour laws safeguard the interests and spell out the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees, thus providing a legal framework for the orderly conduct of industrial relations in the country. |
Enhancing National Support
